If the purpose of this collection of hits is to remind fans what has been thrown away in hopes of getting Oasis back in the studio, it could fail: to be comprehensive, the album has had to include some awful dross from Oasis' post-What's The Story catalogue.

While Lyla and Shock of the Lightning, from the final two CDs, did signal a resurgence in form, they still sit uncomfortably among earlier titans such as Shakermaker, Live Forever and Whatever.

The compilers must also have blushed at having to include the gruesome likes of Little by Little and Liam Gallagher's ponderous Songbird beside the shimmering brilliance of the classic Supersonic and Cigarettes and Alcohol.

Thirteen years ago, Oasis released The Masterplan, a collection of B-sides from the band's first three albums. That it was better than this set of A-sides is proof that the once-mighty Brit-poppers degenerated, like so many before, into just another average rock band.

Instead of highlighting the brilliance of the band, Time Flies merely reminds us that Oasis was a cash cow that had long been milked dry and had for the last decade of its existence simply been going, painfully, through the motions.